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Monthly Archives: May 2014

A few weeks ago I created a conceptual currency called LazyCoin with Brian Clifton, Karl Ward, Jon Wasserman, and Surya Mattu. Unlike typical currencies, which aim to represent and store value, LazyCoin is a store for non-value: you produce LazyCoin by doing nothing.

LazyCoin is also an inversion of the BitCoin protocol: the currency is physical and can only be generated by two or more humans in close proximity, in accordance with protocol that we outline in our white paper. We were inspired by Melville’s Bartleby – it’s a currency that “would prefer not to.”

LazyCoin

1. Introduction

LazyCoin is a currency that quantifies lack of activity. With LazyCoin, the more you do nothing, the more value you create.

2. The Minting Process: Proof of Non-Work

In brief, proof of non-work constitutes one person staring at another person doing nothing.

Minting new LazyCoin requires participation from at least two parties: one or more Generators, and one Verifier. The role of the Generator is to do nothing. The Verifier observes the Generator to ensure that he or she is doing nothing. When the Generator finishes producing LazyCoin, the Verifier signs a blank LazyCoin, making note of the date and the amount of LazyCoin produced. The Verifier gives the newly minted, certified LazyCoin to the Generator to complete the minting process.

The smallest unit of LazyCoin is minted in one minute.

During the minting process, the Verifier may choose to continue his or her normal, productive activity while periodically checking in on the Generator. The Verifier may also produce LazyCoin along with the other Generators. Should the Verifier choose the latter, he or she must receive Verification from the other Generators.

Proper verification requires that all parties remain in line of sight for the duration of the minting process.

The Generator should never do anything while minting LazyCoin. However, under certain circumstances, and with prior approval by a Verifier, the Generator may pretend to do something.

3. Currency Cap

The daily currency cap of LazyCoin is limited by the number of minutes in a day and the number of people on the planet. According to current population estimates, this means that the maximum possible LazyCoins that can be produced in one day is 10,303,200,000,000.

4. Verification Issues and Resolutions: A System of Trust

The extremely young, the extremely old, the incarcerated, the homeless, and others excluded from the productive workforce are the most natural producers of LazyCoin.

However, the extremely young are not mentally developed enough to be each others’ Verifiers, and the extremely old have higher risk of conditions that could compromise their ability to effectively Verify (such as senility or other diseases of the mind).

To protect against potential exploitation, LazyCoin can only be minted by those who are aware they are minting LazyCoin.

LazyCoin is not immune to forgery. Instead, it relies on a system of trust and reputation: if a Verifier is caught forging LazyCoin, his or her reputation in the LazyCoin community will decrease. Verifiers who fraudulently sign LazyCoins or sign LazyCoins minted by “zombie” Generators will inevitably be exposed and removed from the system.

5. Double-Earning

One benefit of LazyCoin is the possibility of minting LazyCoin while simultaneously earning standard currency. For example, a LazyCoin Generator may choose to mint LazyCoin while working a salaried job, simply by ceasing normal work activities and doing nothing. If the Generator earns income through freelance or hourly work, he or she can attempt to simultaneously mint LazyCoin by padding hours or making fraudulent entries on a timecard.

6. Exchanging LazyCoin

As with all currencies, LazyCoin can only be exchanged with those who are willing to exchange it. During the initial phase of LazyCoin minting, we recommend that all LazyCoin Generators accumulate as much LazyCoin as possible and store their earnings under mattresses and floorboards for later non-use.

Unlike typical “ﬁat” currencies that require mutual participation from multiple parties for transactions to take place, LazyCoin can be exchanged with consent from only one party: the person holding LazyCoin. For example, a person holding LazyCoin could enter a store and deliver LazyCoin in exchange for buying nothing.

The present invention is a currency. The device does nothing. The present invention is nothing. The invention pretends to do something. The invention compromises their ability. The device is possibility. The present invention earns standard currency. The device chooses to mint. The invention works a salaried job. The invention ceases normal work. The present invention enters a store.

We also plan on creating a LazyCoin ATM: a person sitting alone at a desk in an abandoned office who offers to verify LazyCoin production for anyone who passes by. I’m confident that LazyCoin is poised to forever alter the value of nothing.

[Hello everyone! Thanks for taking a look at my blog! If you want updates on this project or other things I’m working on, just follow me on twitter]

I wrote a program that transforms literary and philosophical texts into patent applications. In short, it reframes texts as inventions or machines. You can view the code on github.

I was partially inspired by Paul Scheerbart’sPerpetual Motion Machine, a sort of technical/literary diary in which Scheerbart documents and reflects on various failed attempts to create a perpetual motion machine. Scheerbart frequently refers to his machines as “stories” – I wanted to reverse the concept and transform stories into machines.

In this post I’ll provide some details about how I wrote the program, and describe some of the tools that I used.

First, here’s some sample output, listed by invention title and source text:

The program operates in four parts. First it generates a title for the invention, then an abstract, then a list of illustrations, and finally a more detailed description of the “embodiments” of the invention.

In general, my methodology is to find common grammatical structures in patent applications, and then extract sentences containing similar grammatical structures from my input texts. To do this, I make heavy use of the Pattern library, which, among many other wonderful features, allows you to perform regular-expression-like searches using parts of speech. For example, here’s how you can use pattern to to search through a text for all instances of an adjective followed by a plural noun:

Python

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frompattern.search importsearch

frompattern.en importparsetree

t=parsetree('A lot of things are ruining a lot of other things')

printsearch('JJ NNS',t)

Title Generation

There are a number of grammatical patterns that I noticed in patent application titles – one that stuck out to me is “[NOUN] (and [NOUN]) for [GERUND] [NOUN PHRASE]”. For example:

To create my invention titles, I simply search through the source text for “VBG * JJ? NP”, which translates to “a gerund, followed by anything, followed by an optional adjective, followed by a noun phrase.” The program selects an arbitrary title from all the options it finds, and then prefixes the title with a random combination of “system”, “method”, “apparatus”, and “device”. Occasionally it’ll add “web-based” into the mix as well. Here are a few of the many possible titles generated from the Communist Manifesto:

a web-based method and device for haunting Europe

an apparatus and device for rounding of the Cape

an apparatus and system for surpassing Egyptian pyramids

a web-based method and device for revolutionising the instruments

a system and device for clearing of whole continents

a web-based apparatus and method for paving the way

a system and apparatus for diminishing the means

an apparatus and system for fighting the bourgeoisie

a method and device for depicting the most general phases

a method and device for begetting a new supply

a method and apparatus for appropriating material products

a device and system for appropriating intellectual products

a system and device for springing from your present mode

a method and apparatus for having the wives

a web-based apparatus and method for desiring to abolish countries and nationality

a system and method for fluctuating between proletariat and bourgeoisie

a system and method for redressing social grievances

Generating an “Abstract”

Typically a patent application will have an abstract that describes in brief what the invention is comprised of. To generate my abstracts, I follow a similar method to the title generation, searching through my source text for instances of adjectives followed by singular or plural nouns. However, in this case I make a small but significant change. I restrict the possible nouns to those that fit into the category of “artifacts”. For example, here’s the abstract that gets generated from Heidegger’s essay on technology:

The devices comprises a wooden bridge, a technical apparatus, a high-frequency apparatus, a whole structure, a human handiwork, a mere handiwork, an autonomous tool, a hydroelectric plant, an actual chalice, an old windmill, a sacrificial chalice.

In order to do this, I wrote a function that searches first for grammatical patterns, and then filters that output based on hypernyms. A hypernym is a word that fits into a level of categorical abstraction up from another given word. So, a hypernym for “car” is “machine”, a hypernym for “pigeon” is “bird”. We can consider words sharing hypernyms as belonging to the same abstract category. This in itself is a fun tool to play with. For example, I can enter the following into my my program:

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python search.py&lt;kafka.txt'organism''JJ NN'

And I get a list of all the adjectives followed by nouns that fit into the “organism” category in Kafka’s The Metamorphosis:

old man

own mother

timorous visitor

observant sister

tired man

junior salesman

expressive violinist

middle gentleman

good man

unfortunate son

old maid

elderly widow

horrible vermin

elderly mother

chief clerk

wild man

fall victim

sensible person

lazy son

much mother

commercial traveller

young lady

Fun!

Illustrations

The next part of the program generates a list of “illustrations”. This time I search for phrases that fit into a grammatical structure that looks like “DT JJ NP IN * NN”, or, “determiner followed by adjective followed by noun phrase followed by a conjunction followed by anything, followed by a singular noun“. I attach these phrases to other randomly selected phrases commonly found in descriptions of patent illustrations. These “illustrations” come from Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais:

Figure N illustrates the great puffguts of the counsellor.

Figure N is a schematic drawing of the first book of this translation.

Figure N is a perspective view of the old women in rut and heat.

Figure N is an isometric view of the middle finger of his right hand.

Figure N schematically illustrates a little peach-coloured bonnet with a great capon.

Figure N is a block diagram of the inundation of the urinal deluge.

Figure N is a cross section of the perfect image of my body.

I debated attaching actual illustrations to these descriptions, and even wrote a script to scrape Bing images for various patent illustrations, but in the end I decided the texts alone were better. I might explore the idea of programmatically creating illustrations in the future.

Detailed Description

The last part of my program creates a more detailed description of the invention. It does this by searching for “VB|VBD|VBZ|VBG * NN IN * NN”, or “any verb, followed by anything, followed by a noun, followed by a conjunction, followed by anything, followed by a noun.” I attach these, as in the illustrations section, to commonly found phrases in patent descriptions like “the present invention”, and “according to preferred embodiment”. Here are some excerpted results, from the Communist Manifesto:

The present invention is itself the product of a long course. The present invention finds its fitting complement in the most slothful indolence. The present invention creates a world after its own image. The present invention endangers the existence of bourgeois property. The present invention becomes an appendage of the machine.

According to another embodiment, the device layers the foundation for the sway. The device abolishes the right of personally acquired property. The device is the groundwork of all personal freedom.

According to another embodiment, the device is the miserable character of this appropriation. The device is the non-existence of any property. According to a preferred embodiment, the device deprives no man of power.

In accordance with an alternative specific embodiment, the present invention finds its complement in practical absence. The invention alters the character of intervention.

According to another embodiment, the device keeps even pace with dissolution. The invention is the most radical rupture with traditional property. The present invention is the condition for free development. The present invention comprehends the march of modern history.

According to another embodiment, the device is the necessary offspring of its own form. The present invention conceals the reactionary character of criticism. The present invention is the expression of the struggle.

According to a preferred embodiment, the invention expresses the struggle of one class. The invention presupposed the existence of modern bourgeois society. The invention improves the condition of every member.

Closing Thoughts

Soon I’ll create a little web service that runs the script on any user input. For the moment though you can download the code on github. The code base includes a number of (possibly) useful tools:

“machine.py” generates patents

“search.py” searches texts for parts of speech and hypernym combinations (among other things)

“get_illustrations.py” scrapes Bing for patent illustrations

“scraper.py” downloads the full text of patent applications based on keywords

BY THE WAY, if you ever want to kill a few hours, just search google patents for the dirtiest words you can come up with. You will not be disappointed.

A method and device for comprehending theoretically the historical movement.

ABSTRACT

A method and device for comprehending theoretically the historical movement. The device comprises a sentimental veil, a mere instrument, a whole surface, a modern working condition, an essential product, a poor stock-in-trade, heavy artillery, a present system, a feudal system, a great factory, a collective product, a last resort, a transcendental robe, a bribed tool.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is an isometric view of the progressive historical development of the proletariat

Figure 3 schematically illustrates a certain stage in the development

Figure 5 is an isometric view of the whole superincumbent strata of official society

Figure 7 is an isometric view of the undeveloped state of class

Figure 8 is a perspective view of the first conditions for emancipation

Figure 9 is a cross section of the bourgeois sense

Figure 10 schematically illustrates the French criticism of the bourgeois State

Figure 11 is a block diagram of an independent section of modern society

Figure 52 schematically illustrates the icy water of egotistical calculation

Figure 53 illustrates the economic conditions for its emancipation

Figure 55 is a diagrammatical view of a national bank with State capital

Figure 56 is a perspective view of the exact contrary of its real character

Figure 57 illustrates all political action on the part

Figure 59 is a perspective view of the old cries of the restoration

Figure 60 illustrates the momentary interests of the working class

Figure 61 is an isometric view of a fantastic conception of its own position

Figure 62 is a schematic drawing of the revolutionary element in the tottering feudal society

Figure 63 illustrates the working-class parties of every country

Figure 64 is an isometric view of the reactionary character of their criticism

Figure 65 is an isometric view of the bombastic representative of the petty-bourgeois

Figure 66 is a schematic drawing of The first direct attempts of the proletariat

Figure 67 is a schematic drawing of the economical and political sway of the bourgeois class

Figure 68 is a perspective view of any distinctive social validity for the working class

Figure 69 is a perspective view of the Communistic abolition of buying and selling

Figure 70 is a block diagram of the first step in the revolution

Figure 71 is a diagrammatical view of these philosophical phrases at the back

Figure 72 is a perspective view of no other conclusion than that the lot

Figure 73 is an isometric view of the classical works of ancient heathendom

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is itself the product of a long course. In accordance with an alternative specific embodiment, the present invention finds its fitting complement in the most slothful indolence. The present invention creates a world after its own image (comprising of an iconic mental representation) . The present invention endangers the existence of bourgeois property. The present invention becomes an appendage of the machine.

According to another embodiment, the device layers the foundation for the sway. The device abolishes the right of personally acquired property. The present invention is the groundwork of all personal freedom.

According to another embodiment, the device is the miserable character of this appropriation. The device is the non-existence of any property. According to a preferred embodiment, the invention deprives no man of power.

In accordance with an alternative specific embodiment, the present invention finds its complement in practical absence. The invention alters the character of intervention.

According to another embodiment, the device keeps even pace with dissolution. The invention is the most radical rupture with traditional property. The present invention is the condition for free development. The present invention comprehends the march of modern history.

According to another embodiment, the device is the necessary offspring (comprising of the immediate descendants of a person) of their own form. The present invention conceals the reactionary character of criticism.

According to a preferred embodiment, the invention is the head of this school. The present invention is the expression of the struggle.

According to a preferred embodiment, the invention expresses the struggle (comprising of an energetic attempt to achieve something) of one class. The invention presupposed the existence of modern bourgeois society. The invention improves the condition of every member.

The present invention is itself the product of a long course. In accordance with an alternative specific embodiment, the present invention finds its fitting complement in the most slothful indolence. The present invention creates a world after its own image (comprising of an iconic mental representation) . The present invention endangers the existence of bourgeois property. The present invention becomes an appendage of the machine.

According to another embodiment, the device layers the foundation for the sway. The device abolishes the right of personally acquired property. The present invention is the groundwork of all personal freedom.

According to another embodiment, the device is the miserable character of this appropriation. The device is the non-existence of any property. According to a preferred embodiment, the invention deprives no man of power.

In accordance with an alternative specific embodiment, the present invention finds its complement in practical absence. The invention alters the character of intervention.

According to another embodiment, the device keeps even pace with dissolution. The invention is the most radical rupture with traditional property. The present invention is the condition for free development. The present invention comprehends the march of modern history.

According to another embodiment, the device is the necessary offspring (comprising of the immediate descendants of a person) of their own form. The present invention conceals the reactionary character of criticism.

According to a preferred embodiment, the invention is the head of this school. The present invention is the expression of the struggle.

According to a preferred embodiment, the invention expresses the struggle (comprising of an energetic attempt to achieve something) of one class. The invention presupposed the existence of modern bourgeois society. The invention improves the condition of every member.